In the 11-year period of 2005 through 2015, canines killed 360 Americans. Pit bulls contributed to 64% (232) of these deaths. Combined, pit bulls and rottweilers contributed to 76% of the total recorded deaths. | More »

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Friend Shares StoryOmaha, NE - One of the victims in the Omaha pit bull attack that sent three people to emergency care and left a child without a scalp says, "It was the most terrifying thing I've ever gone through in my life." Carly Spring and her 1-year old son Cade had teamed up with Wendy Blevins and her daughter Charlotte that day.

After the mothers strapped the two children into the wagon, they began to pull the wagon along. Shortly thereafter, they saw the pit bull being walked by its owner. Then they saw the pit bull slip out of its collar and approach them. Carly says she can't stop thinking about these moments. "You can't imagine just the fear, you could just be watching your baby die right there.”

Resident Stephan Ray witnessed the attack through his window. "It was a melee for a good 30 seconds, everybody trying to beat Duke off of the baby." He said the women were hysterical and that they came into his kitchen and sat down on the floor. Ray got wet towels and cold ice and put it on the baby's head "because she was missing her whole scalp."

After paramedics rushed severely injured Charlotte Blevins to Creighton Medical Center in critical condition, police later followed with parts of the girl’s scalp on ice. Wendy was bitten on the left side of the neck. Carly's son Cade was bitten on the chest. Carly herself was bitten on her left hand. The three were treated for tissue wounds and released.

Carly said that the owner of the dog, Tina Agerson, didn't "jump in to try and stop this from happening." The article does not state if Carly had ever met the dog owner before. Ironically, the Nebraska Humane Society says right around the same time of the attack, just three blocks away, an 8-year-old boy was attacked by a different pit bull and needed stitches.